


Worth a Shot

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: F/M, Leaden Key Hunt AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 19:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14677554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: For Prompt #39, another Roll for It. I got Woedica/Leaden Key/dank spores for my elements, so it was clearly meant to be another installment of the Taviloth Leaden Key Hunt AU, yes?





	Worth a Shot

**Author's Note:**

> For Prompt #39, another Roll for It. I got Woedica/Leaden Key/dank spores for my elements, so it was clearly meant to be another installment of the Taviloth Leaden Key Hunt AU, yes?

 

The hope of there being anything left by the time she made it back was minuscule, but Tavi still felt a rush of disappointment when the ruined temple was empty of all traces kith had been there. Even knowing it was long odds at best, part of her had hoped the Leaden Key had been sloppy in their haste to abandon the temple. Left something behind to serve as a clue. It had taken several very careful months to find the man they’d chased in here and if there was no lead to be found _after_ him, she was going to swear. This was a big temple, surely they hadn’t gotten _everything_.

Except they had. At least in the rooms she found. The lack of dust was the only sign kith had been here in years. Tavi kicked the wall in frustration.

 _Fucking godsdamned Leaden Key,_ she groused. They’d even reset the traps on their way out. Maybe  that was why the hair on the back of her neck kept prickling; not knowing where danger might lurk. Just because all the ones she’d seen had to be manually triggered didn’t mean that was the case for all of them.

But then the nerves grew stronger as she stepped out of the room she’d been searching. Tavi rested her hand on the hilt of one sabre. There was no one in sight. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

The soft brush of footsteps against stone behind her confirmed her suspicions. _My gut’s never been wrong before; no reason for it to start now._ She gripped the sabre’s hilt, drawing it as she turned--

Aloth caught her wrist before she had the weapon more than halfway unsheathed. “You’re awfully jumpy for someone who _assured_ me she could handle this on her own.”

Tavi wrinkled her nose at the amusement in his voice. “And you’re awfully upright for someone who assured _me_ he’d _**rest.**_ ” She resheathed the sabre. “And bein’ jumpy is part of why I can handle this on my fuckin’ own.”

Aloth cocked his head in acknowledgement of both her points. “I got bored. And you know I have the utmost faith in your instincts. Have you found anything yet?”

She shook her head. “Not a thing. I was gonna check the other levels, see if they missed anything. I’m assumin’ you bein’ here means your research went about as well?”

He nodded, falling in step behind her with only a slight grimace. “You would be correct. There’s no record to be found of this temple, not even its construction. It’s as if it doesn’t exist.”

“Well, then I guess we know which god it’s for,” Tavi said sardonically, opting to  check the upstairs first. “Need me to carry you up, city slicker?”

Aloth rolled his eyes. “I’m not an invalid, Tavi, just healing.”

“Which is why _**I**_ was supposed to be doing this while you _stayed in bed_.” She noticed him biting his lip as they mounted the stairs and silently linked her arm with his for support. “So you didn’t rip out the fuckin’ stitches.”

“If I wasn’t here, I’d just be pacing the room waiting for you. This seemed more productive.”

“I do have to admit to bein’ impressed you made it through the jungle by yourself,” Tavi commented idly as she opened the first door with a fair amount of caution.

“I’m very stubborn,” Aloth returned. “When I want to be.” 

Tavi shot him a bemused look. “Shit, I know _that_ , city slicker,” she chuckled, scanning the room. Empty. No furniture or anything. Except... “Stay here, I think I see something...”

Aloth squeezed her hand before letting go. “Be careful.”

Tavi nodded and grunted acknowledgement as she moved across the room toward a spot where one tile sat slightly deeper in the wall that those around it. Fully aware it could be nothing--or a trap--she gingerly felt around the edges of the tile until one corner wiggled. She pried it loose and peered into the small space it had concealed. Inside lay a small piece of damp paper and a tarnished medallion on a leather cord. The paper was near-illegible and written in some language she didn’t recognize, and the necklace was etched with a spiraling design. Tavi collected them both and returned to Aloth.

He took the paper carefully and stared at it a moment, then shook his head. “I’ll need better light to be able to read this.”

“This seems like junk, too,” Tavi said,shaking the necklace. “So that was a waste.”

“I never said this was useless,” Aloth corrected, gingerly holding the paper. “I’m fairly certain this script is Engwithan, but I can’t read it well enough in this poor light.”

“Ah. Well, let’s check the rest of the place and get back to our room so you can have your better light.” She tucked the necklace in a belt pouch and proceeded down the hall with caution.

The few other rooms on this level were all clear, except for one where a wall had collapsed and filled the room with rubble. All were empty of anything that might have been useful. The Leaden Key here had done a better job covering their tracks than the ones in Defiance Bay, though Aloth did find faint bloodstains in the hall.

“I’m fairly certain these are faint from scrubbing rather than age,” he said as he pointed them out to Tavi, one hand absently pressed against his side.

“Not going to ask how you know the difference,” she chuckled, crouching down and tracing the edges with of the stains with her fingertip. “Think someone pissed off the cell leadership or...?”

“If it was an execution, they likely would have been killed somewhere more private,” he said, hand still rubbing his injured side. “But a crime of passion doesn’t fit the Leaden Key, either...”

“You alright, city slicker?” she interjected to his train of thought. “This is why you were supposed to fuckin’ _rest_.”

“It’s just sore,” Aloth muttered, pulling his hand away. “I’m fine.”

“You’re also a terrible liar,” Tavi said fondly. “But I’ll let it slide ‘cause I like your company. And I’d rather be able to keep an eye on you than worry you got bored and did somethin’ stupid.” She raked hair back from her face. “But gettin’ back to what you were sayin’...”

“Oh, all I can surmise is this was someone who failed badly enough to be disposed of without delay, and the Leaden Key then cleaned up as part of their efforts to obscure their presence here.”

“That sounds like guessing, Corfiser,” she teased as she straightened.

“It is,” he admitted frankly. “I don’t know _everything_ , Tavi.”

“Just damn close to it,” Tavi laughed, which turned to concern when he bit his lip and rested one hand against the wall briefly for support. “You sure you’re okay? It looks like they cleared out pretty thoroughly; I doubt we’re gonna find anything. We can go back to the inn-”

Aloth shook his head. “I’ll be fine. There’s still another level to check.”

“Which I can do by myself,” she countered. He did look like he was fine--not pale or swaying or anything--but she knew how bad ‘soldiering on’ with an injury like his could hurt. “I _am_ more stubborn than you, city slicker, I _will_ win.”

He sighed and shot her a mischievous look. “Only because I know you’ll just carry me out if you get too worried.”

“Damn straight I will,” Tavi nodded. “But I’ll hold off for now. Let’s check the lower level and then even if I do have to carry you, we’re going back to the inn so you can rest.”

“I agree to your terms,” Aloth said, smiling slightly.

“Good, I won’t have to persuade you,” Tavi winked, and headed back for the stairs.

-o-

They were halfway down the ramp that led to the lowest level before the reek of damp grew overwhelming.

Tavi spun around to face Aloth. “You’re waiting upstairs.”

“Tavi-”

“Aloth, you have not one but _two_ \--albeit bandaged wounds, the last place you need to be is somewhere that smells like a fuckin’ swamp.” She took his hands in hers, thumb rubbing over the bandages covering one of said wounds. “Me wading through brackish water or muck will be bad enough. I probably won’t be long; if it’s nasty down there, I doubt they used it much.”

He didn’t look particularly convinced, but acquiesced all the same. “...Fine. Just be careful.”

“Will do.” She’d keep that promise, largely because the last thing she needed was him getting worried and following her. Everything in the lowest level was coated generously in slimy green muck, and an inch or two of stagnant water covered the ground. Tavi wrinkled her nose at conditions and smell both as she lit a torch and started poking around. It was just a cursory look; she wasn’t expecting to find anything useful down here with the awful state of things. That was probably why she all but walked into the dank spore growing in the corner.

 _Oh, **shit**. _ She yelped and out of pure instinct shoved the torch dead center into the plant’s head. It turned out to be a very lucky move; the spore was smaller than most, and sickly malnourished, so it collapsed on itself with nothing more than an angry screech. The awful reek of burning plant slime joined the other wonderful odors filling the space, and Tavi coughed as she debated whether to retrieve the torch or deal without it. _There’s enough light I could probably manage..._

“Tavi?!” Aloth’s voice floated down, very worried, and she winced at the realization of just how loud she’d yelped.

“I’m fine, city slicker!” she called back. “Just startled myself, s’all. I’ll be up in a minute, you stay put.” She didn’t wait for his reply to filter down before resuming her examination of the chamber. It wasn’t big; long-fallen debris filled the only doorway out. Her search turned up massive quantities of sludge, five different varieties of fungus--and one dead body.

The man was still recognizable as the one she and Aloth had been pursuing the day before. A jagged wound split his throat,  and any hint to his identity or allegiance was gone, but this was definitely their quarry.

“Someone got in trouble,” she whispered, singsong, thinking of the bloodstains upstairs. Probably on account of them, which she couldn’t muster any remorse for.

A faint whisper of the man’s essence lingered still, to Tavi’s surprise, and she reached for it.

_Triumph turned to dismay at the Acolyte’s stern posture._

_Failed._ We have to leave the temple, but you can remain. You _**will** _ remain. _The warm spill of blood seeping into darkness._

_Ewan..._

The name burned into Tavi’s mind, free of context, as she jolted out of the man’s last moments. _Well that was helpful_ , she thought sarcastically.  Time to go back to Aloth, admit defeat, and head for the inn so she could make him get some fucking _rest_. They could debate if any of the--pitifully few--things they’d found were important, if ‘ _Ewan’_ was worth looking for, and anything else that came to mind then.

Aloth was not waiting at the top of ihe ramp when she made it back out. He’d wandered a short way down one of the halls, and was staring thoughtfully at a mural of Woedica’s crown daubed onto the wall. He glanced over at the echo of Tavi’s footsteps. “May I see that medallion you found?”

“Sure.” She fished it out as she joined him and handed it over. “You find somethin’?”

“Possibly.” He slid the pendant off the cord. “There’s an indentation here...” A nod at the mural, “that’s the same size and shape. I’m wondering...”

Tavi watched with interest and no small amount of pride as the medallion fit perfectly in the spot he’d indicated. “Good call.”

“Thank you,” Aloth replied with a smile. “Now to see what it does, if anything.”

“It would have to, wouldn’t it? Otherwise, what’s the fuckin’ point?” she said, running her fingers through her hair.

“Mm.” He pressed the medallion and it sank further into the wall with a clunk. Behind them, a section of the wall slid away, revealing a shrine overseen by a statue of Woedica and flanked by a pair of braziers.

“Well, that’s something,” Aloth murmured, absently flexing his injured wrist as the two of them approached the shrine.

“These are still warm,” Tavi said. She held her hand over one brazier and let out a triumphant whoop. “They were burnin’ paper!”

“Don’t get excited until we know if any of it is legible,” Aloth cautioned, but he was grinning, too.

Most of it wasn’t, but they salvaged what they could. It was some level of hope, anyway, that they weren’t at a _complete_ dead end. That alone cheered Tavi immensely.

“Alright, we’re done here,” she said, plucking the medallion from the wall after they were both clear of the shrine. The wall ground closed seamlessly. “Now for the sitting around to put puzzle pieces together stage.”

“My favorite,” he replied glibly.

“Right now it’s mine, too,” she retorted as they made their way out of Woedica’s temple. “B’cause it’ll mean you actually sittin’ still like you’re supposed to.”

Aloth laughed, but at least had the decency to blush, his ears twitching downward briefly. “For as long as you want me to,” he promised.”

“I’m holdin’ you to that,” Tavi warned, reaching for his hand as they made their way down the exterior steps. “I want you around for a good long while, Corfiser.”

“And I have no intention of going anywhere,” he replied, grip tightening when he faltered on the last step, tripping over a broken paving stone.

Tavi smiled and tugging his arm around her shoulders, hinting, “To that end...”

Aloth may have rolled his eyes a little, but he did let her help him. At least through the jungle. They’d drawn enough attention to themselves yesterday.

-o-

Their salvage proved a tricky puzzle to piece together, and both were streaked with soot and ash up to the elbows before they were able to make any sense of it. Said sense being that most of the fragments they’d rescued were written in Engwithan, rendering Tavi largely useless. The few things that weren’t were just lists of names, with no indication if they were members, targets, or something else entirely. Further complicating matters, when Aloth got the other scraps translated, they proved to be gibberish. It was clearly a cipher, but without the key word or phrase, that knowledge was about as useful as spoiled provisions.

“Fuckin’ _bazzos_ ,” Tavi spat darkly, slouching in her chair, smudging soot up her forehead when she raked her bangs out of her face. “Fuck the Leaden Key, fuck them and their secrecy to Hel and back, this is _sciòderie_.“ She glanced sidelong at Aloth and her ears dipped as she clarified, “Former members excepted, of course.”

“What a relief,” he deadpanned with amusement rife in his voice. She briefly considered throwing something at him, but there was nothing in reach, so she settled for a dirty look, which made him laugh. “This is still better than nothing, Tavi.”

“Is it, though?” she shot back, rubbing at the soot smudges on her forehead. “It’s still essentially fuckin’ nothing, but gets us _so damn close_ before bein’ fuckin’ nothing which is _infuriating_.”

“If we ever find one of their cipher keys, we can at least try it and may have something.”

She snorted, wiping her hand on her pants. “Yeah, like they’re gonna leave that lyin’ around. Prob’ly be more likely to brick it up inside a wall- What?”

Aloth held up one hand in a  _‘Wait_ ’ gesture and pushed up from the table fast as he dared. He crossed to the dresser and retrieved the scrap of paper she’d found with the medallion. “Bricked in a wall, like this was?”

Tavi blinked, then grinned. “Corfiser, you’re a fuckin’ genius.”

He smiled but shook his head slightly. “Perhaps save the praise for when we know if I’m correct.”

“Fine. It’s worth a shot.” Her grin widened when it did indeed prove to be the proper cipher phrase once translated. “Told ya. Fuckin’ genius.Let’s get this worked out.”

“Let’s,” Aloth agreed, and the two of them stayed up far into the night, slowly decoding the scraps of Leaden Key records in hopes of finding something useful.

It might be long odds, but like everything else on this quest of theirs, it was worth a shot.

**Author's Note:**

> Y’know what I love writing? Stuff where both halves of my otp get to show off their strengths. :3


End file.
